Day two of our Havasu adventure was set aside for exploring the area. We started off by spending the morning downstream at Mooney Falls, a side canyon, and a natural water park off the beaten track. After lunch back at the campsite we headed upstream to Hidden Falls, New Indian/New 50-Foot Falls, and New Navajo/Rock Falls. That night we wrapped up the experience with an #omniten group photograph in front of Havasu Falls.

Mooney Falls and a Natural Waterpark

Heading downstream out of the campground leads to a  fun scramble and even more fun in the water. It is only a few steps out of the campground to a viewpoint of Mooney Falls, the highest waterfall in the area at almost 200 ft tall.

Access to the bottom of the falls used to be next to impossible, with nearly 200 ft of cliffs blocking the way. Now, there is a ‘trail’ to the bottom, made up of man made tunnels, crudely cut steps, chains, spikes, and ladders. Although several variations of the story behind the tunnels exist, it is generally agreed upon that they were dug  in the late 1800s/early 1900s by prospectors attempting to reach the body of their colleague James Mooney who had fallen to his death over the falls.

Our group descended the fun route and reached the bottom of the falls. It reminded me a bit of Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park, with a little bit more exposure. I really enjoyed it, but I can see how this could make people understandably uncomfortable. The falls were still in the morning shade so we continued downstream to explore while it warmed up. Our first stop was a shady, cathedral-like side canyon written about in Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire.

We scrambled around this canyon full of lush greenery and echoing chambers for a short while before heading downstream a bit further to a waterfall we could actually scramble down. I left my pack at the top and walked down this travertine waterfall to the river below.

We walked in the shallow water a short distance upstream to a natural waterslide where we all took turns jumping in and floating downstream. I didn’t bring my camera down since I didn’t want it to get wet, but fortunately the excellent photographer Will Rochfort captured the perfect shot of the area – Mooney Falls in the background,  the natural waterslide below it, and the shower and waterfall we scrambled down on the right. I want to go back now!

Now that the sun was shining we headed back up to Mooney Falls. The power of this waterfall is incredible. Brian, our guide, led a few of us along the far ledge next to the waterfall into what he called a “Hurricane Cave”. The wind, water, and currents were intense, so much that when I jumped out to swim I was sucked right back into the waterfall, going the opposite direction I expected. After a moment of temporary disorientation I was able to swim the correct direction and get out, but WOW I’ve never had to swim so hard! I latched on to the wall again and crept along it until I was touching bottom again. Adrenaline rush! And the best part of it was that I had my GoPro running the whole time. Once I have the footage edited I’ll have to put it here – it shows the disorientation pretty well.

After the exhilaration of the hurricane cave the scrambly ascent back to the top was nothing. We headed back to the campsite for lunch, fueling up for an afternoon at even more waterfalls!

Hidden Falls, New Indian/50-Foot Falls, New Navajo/Rock Falls

After lunch we headed up stream to Hidden Falls. As the name suggests, this waterfall is not visible from the trail and therefore receives fewer visitors than the other waterfalls. It has incredible jumping, with a deep blue pool and several tiers of jumping platforms from about 6 ft to 25 ft high. In order to get to the lower platforms you have to swim across the pool and then do a little scramble up the side of the rock. In climbing terms, it’s maybe a VB, but even if you miss a foot or hand hold you just fall back into the deep blue water.  Fun!

I started at the lower platform, jumped a few times, and then went to the next higher platform to jump. Several brave souls went straight to the highest perch at 25 feet and jumped. I never got that high before it was time for us to move on. It’s my one regret from this trip – I would have gotten up there eventually, I just needed to work my way up. But it gives me a good reason to return – I WILL jump from there, dammit!

Instead of walking back up the trail we followed the river upstream, past the new Navajo (Rock) falls, and over to the New 50-Foot falls.

Chris, one of our guides, took us on an awesome ‘tour’ of this wide waterfall. We circled to the left of the pile of rocks in the photo above, though another Hurricane Tunnel/Cave, and popped out into that raised ‘Hot Tub’ in the middle of the photo. From there we jumped into the big pool and swam under the waterfall. I was pretty sure at this point that I had died and gone to heaven, and I was okay with that. Then some people did some backflips off Rock Falls. Because WHY NOT?

Back at camp we started talking about the next morning – we’d have to get up early to beat the 100 degree heat on our nearly 3000 ft climb out of the Falls. Before dark the #omniten gathered for this photo by our beach, and looking at it now, over a month and a half later, I’m still emotional about it! I am so happy I got to be a part of this group and share all these moments with you!

But that wasn’t all. After dark, photographer Will gathered us together for a final caper. He had an idea for an epic night shot of Havasu Falls and needed us to pull it together. At the Falls, he lined us up and gave us instructions. We stood in the water and used our headlamps to spell out #OmniTen while Steve stood back by the falls and light-painted it. After about eight tries Will got the shot he was looking for:

The stars, the waterfall, the #omniten – it came out awesome! I love this photo and have a printout of it next to my computer monitor at home. It will always remind me of the great time I had on this trip with these people.
The next morning we sucked down some coffee and breakfast and hit the trail early so we could get out before the peak of midday heat, everyone taking off at their own pace. I enjoyed the hike out. The canyon was cool and shaded, and the final climb wasn’t bad at all. After that it was a bus trip back to Phoenix, a final night out with everyone, and the sad goodbyes at the airport. I cannot wait until our paths cross again.

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